The new decoration in the Red Bank gym is more useful than beautiful.
Volleyball coach Christel Brooks and assistant Mandi Munn created a huge postseason checklist with a goal for each day leading up to the state championship.
The Lady Lions checked off another item on their list Tuesday night – in someone else’s gym.
Red Bank captured the Region 3-AA championship by beating East Ridge 3-0 in the latter’s Catherine Neely Gymnasium. Game scores were 25-9, 25-14, 25-13.
“The mental part of the game is very important, and that can give you a great edge,” said Brooks, who is having various coaches deliver motivational speeches to her team each day. “That’s something we work on during the postseason.
“Tomorrow’s box is probably something about having a perfect practice.”
On the checklist for Thursday is winning a sectional match. Red Bank will host Notre Dame. The winner of that contest will advance to the state tournament next week.
East Ridge will travel to CCS and needs to pull off an upset to advance to Murfreesboro.
“We have to forget this one and move on,” said Neely, whose team dispatched Polk County 25-15, 25-8, 25-9 in one semifinal. “We’re still playing and that’s good.”
Red Bank (43-15) plans to play long beyond Thursday. The Lady Lions never trailed in their three games against East Ridge after dismissing Sequoyah 25-3, 25-9, 25-12.
“You can get a rhythm and get the momentum, and if you serve well you can keep it,” Brooks said. “We did that tonight in both matches, and we served tough and got points there and kept ball control with our passing.”
Red Bank had almost the same success against East Ridge (22-31) in the championship match. The Lady Lions led 20-4 in the first game, 15-3 in the second and 17-9 in the third.
“Red Bank has a lot of veterans and they’re the defending state champion, so they still have that mentality,” Neely said. “Our kids may have played too hard and made too many mistakes.”
Red Bank senior Kalyn Helton earned the tournament MVP honor. Helton, who has committed to play at Tennessee, had 23 kills in six games Tuesday, plus 13 digs against East Ridge and 10 assists against Sequoyah.
“Kalyn was the difference tonight,” Neely said. “She can do with it what she wants.”